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Home › Articles › Guiding Baby's Development › On My Own Two Feet

On My Own Two Feet

The Ups and Downs of Pulling Up

By Jacqueline Bodnar

Pages:  1  2  3  

The Big Picture
Ultimately, the goal of pulling up is to facilitate "cruising" – a process where a baby pulls himself or herself up from the floor, maintains contact with a secure object and walks along the length of the object for a short distance. As babies gain strength in their legs and develop a sense of balance, cruising can progress to object-to-object navigation. This normally occurs in rooms where furniture is spaced a short distance apart, for example in a family room or bedroom.

"When she first started pulling up in her crib, she would wail until we came in to help her down because she had to learn how to sit back down on her own," Duff says. "I had to teach her this by helping her down several times and trying to show her how she could do it on her own. Within two weeks, she got the hang of it and now carefully sits down when she no longer wants to stand."

Oddly enough, one of the most frustrating aspects of pulling up isn't so much in the effort it takes to go from sitting to standing – it's the fact that many babies don't know how to sit down once they've stood up. It's important for parents to realize that many babies don't learn how to get back down to the floor once they've stood up (at least not without falling) until a month or two after they've mastered the skill of pulling up. The key is for parents to gently guide their children through the process by physically bending the baby's knees and slowly lowering him or her to the floor until the skill is mastered on a child's own.

Most important, parents should allow their baby to take her time while learning the pull-up process. Delays are normal and frustration is normal – the only solution is to provide a safe environment for pulling up to happen at its own pace.


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